


Promises to Keep

by sockablock



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Drabble, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Pre-Canon, can you tell that i just love Yeza, from a tumblr ask
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 07:01:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19824946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sockablock/pseuds/sockablock
Summary: "I, Yeza Brenatto, take thee to be my wedded wife."(or: a look back at Yeza and Veth over the years)





	Promises to Keep

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bloominggroves](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloominggroves/gifts).



> inspired by an ask from @bloominggroves on tumblr, who asked for a fic under the title "Promises to Keep"  
> (and also my undying love of Yeza)

"I, Yeza Brenatto, take thee to be my wedded wife.”

\----------------

It’s a soft afternoon on the outskirts of Felderwin, beside the slow-running Eistus River. A group of boys chase each other around its shores as the breeze drifts lazily above waving grass.

A young girl wades past its banks, searching for rocks. Her skirt is pulled up to her knees and her boots squelch in the mud and sand. She looks up as one of her brothers calls.

“Hey, Veth! Hey, Veth, c’mere! One of my friends has something to give you!”

She immediately rolls her eyes. 

“Yeah, right,” she shouts back. “I’m not falling for this again!”

“Aw, _c’mon_! I promise, you’ll like it!” There’s a chorus of sniggers. “Plus, I bet it’s something you’ve never seen before!”

Veth glances lovingly down at the stream, where hundreds upon hundreds of glittering rocks lie. She pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs.

“I’d better not regret this!” she shouts back. “If it’s something gross, I’m telling mom!”

There’s another round of adolescent laughter. They know as well as she that their mother will not do anything.

Veth trudges out of the stream. She can see the “friend” in question now, a scruffy young boy no older than her, sporting curly brown hair and just riddled with freckles. He looks nervous, even more nervous than Veth feels, and despite her protective glare of suspicion, she can feel a tiny smile tug against her lips.

\----------------

“To have and to hold, from this day forward—”

\----------------

The loft of the Brenatto’s barn is dark, but halflings have pretty sharp vision. Which is good, because in this moment, Yeza thinks that he could never look away. Veth is blushing, already rosy from the half-bottle of cherry wine they’d stolen, and when he leans in, clumsily slips on loose hay, he hears her laugh and she picks him back up and thinks, in that moment, that she’s the one he’ll love forever.

\----------------

“—for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer—”

\----------------

“No, no, to the left.”

“Oh. Like this?”

“No, Yeza!” Veth chuckles. “No, _my_ left, a bit more—yes, there you go!”

At the top of the ladder, Yeza leans back to admire the sign. He wipes his hands against his apron, then turns and beams at his wife.

“Ta-da!” He gestures to the new sign. “The Brenatto Apothecary is now officially open for business!”

Veth bursts into applause. "Hell yes! I’m very proud of you.”

But Yeza shakes his head. “This is for both of us,” he says. “Together. We’re a team, right?”

She laughs.

“Of course, honey. A team.”

\----------------

“—in sickness and in health—”

\----------------

Yeza sinks onto the bed. He isn’t heavy, as a slight halfling man, but he is only now shedding the weight of uncertainty and allowing himself to breathe with relief.

“Oh, Veth,” he murmurs. “He’s beautiful.”

Veth smiles. Drained, exhausted, brimming with joy.

“I’ve always liked ‘Luc’,” she says.

\----------------

“—to love and to cherish—”

\----------------

He desperately clutches his son to his chest as the roar of the river tries to drag him down. He can feel Luc coughing, feel his wounds burning, knows he _must_ make it to the shore, but still he turns, frantic, desperate, screaming—where is Veth? Where is his wife? She’d told him to run, she’d just told him to run, but he can’t leave his wife, gods, where is his _wife—_

\----------------

“—till death do us part.”

\----------------

It’s a soft afternoon on the outskirts of Felderwin, rain falling light and cold upon the ground.

Everyone else has already gone. Their neighbor Edith was kind enough to bring Luc home and allow Yeza a final moment, alone.

He stares at the headstone. He can hardly move.

They’d never even found her body.

But it’s goblins, he remembers. Of course there wouldn’t be one left behind.

\----------------

Many years pass.

\----------------

“…I hereto pledge thee my faith…”

\----------------

“Dad!” There’s the sound of pattering footsteps. “Dad, Dad, we’ve got a letter!”

Yeza pokes his head out of the workshop just in time to see Luc barrel into view. The boy almost tumbles when he comes to a halt, but Yeza reaches out with practiced hands and catches his son before he can slip.

The boy is… _much_ heavier than he usually is.

“Luc?” he raises an eyebrow. “What’s that you’ve got, there?”

Luc holds the package up with pride. It is massive, wrapped in thick brown paper, its cord untied and trailing along the floor.

“Here, here, let’s put it down,” Yeza says, and takes a seat beside his son. Luc watches with buzzing excitement as his father pulls the wrapping back and takes a closer look.

An assortment of random buttons. A door knob. A brass baby bottle. Bracelets. Too many ball bearings for any sane person, and a small leather pouch containing…containing…

They spill onto the floor, and Yeza’s eyes go wide.

“That’s…holy _shit_ ,” he breathes. “Oh my gods, that’s a _lot_ of gold.”

“There’s a note, too, Dad,” adds Luc, who has already claimed a handful of ball bearings. “What’s it say? Who’s it from?”

Yeza picks it up with a shaky hand, confused and surprised and he can’t stop wondering, _who would want to send money and_ buttons?

He smooths the letter out.

He reads—

\----------------

“…and pledge myself to you.”

\----------------

The strange voice in his head says that Veth is coming to save him. Some days, he wouldn’t dare believe it’s true. Some days, it’s all that gets him through. The moss on the walls is beginning to taste stale, and now he can barely move his legs. Parts of his vest have begun to tear away, and his throat crackles with every word he tries to say.

Time moves, and he stops feeling it pass.

And then, one day, the cell door creaks open.

\----------------

Yeza gazes at the woman standing beside him, looking just as warm, just as radiant, as she had on the day they’d met. 

“I love you,” he adds softly. “Veth, I love you.”

\----------------

He gazes at the woman standing before him, looking nothing like the person he’d lost, long ago.

But she smiles, and somehow, it’s still that old smile. She has a necklace of buttons buried under her cloak. And her eyes, though yellow, though large and slit-pupiled, shine with uncertainty, and nervous hope, and the same glowing soul that he’d met, long ago.

He takes a step forward.

\----------------

“It’s still you though, right?”

“…yeah. Yeah, it is.”

He nods.

“Then that’s all that matters.”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks so much for reading!! if you enjoyed this little drabble, please consider leaving comments/kudos! If you have something you want me to write, feel free to drop by my inbox [@sockablock](https://www.sockablock.tumblr.com) <3


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